IDC: Africa's smartphone market shipments reached 48.6 million units in the fourth quarter of 2021, down more than 11%

The latest data from IDC shows that Africa’s overall mobile phone market fell 11.3% year-on-year to 48.6 million units in the fourth quarter of 2021. The feature phone market fell 14.3% to 27.1 million units, while smartphone shipments fell 7.1% to 21.5 million units.

Africa’s major smartphone markets all experienced a downturn in the fourth quarter of 2021, with the exception of South Africa, which grew slightly year-on-year. Global supply shortages were the main reason for the decline across the region, while Egypt was further hampered by new tariffs of up to 10% on mobile phone imports.

Transsion brands ( Tecno , Infinix and Itel ) continued to lead the African smartphone market in the fourth quarter of 2021 , with a combined share of 47.9% , followed by Samsung and Xiaomi (including Poco ) with shares of 19.6% and 7.1% , respectively . Transsion brands also dominated the feature phone market, with a combined share of 78.0% , followed by Nokia ( 8.6% ) and Alcatel ( 2.0% ).

The low-end price segment (below US$ 200 ) continued to dominate the African smartphone market in the fourth quarter of 2021 , with a shipment share of 81.1% , although this was down from 86.8% in the fourth quarter of 2020. The mid-range price segment ( US$ 200 to US$ 400 ) increased its share from 10.1% to 14.0% during the same period .

" Global supply shortages, inflationary pressures, and improvements in specifications and features are driving up the average price of smartphones, " said Taher Abdel-Hameed , senior research analyst at IDC . " The growth in the mid-range price segment can be attributed to the launch of new feature-rich models from major vendors such as Samsung, Xiaomi, and Transsion. This price segment is expected to maintain its growth momentum over the long term. "

2022 is expected to grow

Looking ahead, IDC expects the entire African smartphone market to grow 3.8% year - over-year in 2022. " Mobile phone imports make up a notable portion of the current account deficit in many African countries, " said Ramazan Yavuz, senior research manager at IDC. " Given the macroeconomic challenges facing economies across the region, African governments will be closely watching taxes and import duties on mobile phones. North African countries have already implemented new import duties and increased tax rates, and similar changes are expected in many other African markets in the near future. "